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Amid Burkina Faso Unrest, UN & Djinnit Stay Silent, Under France's Watchful Eye

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 4 -- Now that the fighting in Burkina Faso has killed civilians, the UN's long silence seems all the more strange, when contrasted to its comments on unrest in other countries.

  On June 1, Inner City Press asked the Office of the Spokesperson for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon what the UN had to say about the ongoing mutiny in Burkina Faso, which resulted in 24-year rules Blaise Campaore dissolving the government and calling home UN Darfur mediator Djibril Bassole as foreign minister.

  From the UN's transcript:

INNER CITY PRESS: I just wonder if anyone at the UN is tracking these mutinies in Burkina Faso where the army has been for several months rebelling against the Government. There is just now a recent outbreak of shooting in the main town, and I just wonder, does the Secretary-General have, you know, I don’t know… is there… Burkina Faso is a big contributor of peacekeepers, a big player in peace initiatives in Africa — has there been any statement at any point by the UN about this ongoing turmoil in Burkina Faso?

  That day, the UN Spokesperson's office had no comment, merely saying that Ban's Department of Political Affairs was watching and would be checked with. Later Inner City Press was told that Ban's envoy for West Africa Said Djinnit was “of course monitoring,” but chose not to say anything.


Ban takes Burkinabe award from Campaore, comment on unrest not shown

And now, Campaore's forces have rumbled into the second city of Baso Dioulasso and at least seven have been killed, including a young girl. Colonial power France is said to be watching. Some wonder, watching to make sure the UN doesn't criticize? We'll see.

* * *

Former Saleh Minister Is UN Face in Arab World, UNDP Yemen Website Dormant

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 4 -- Amid news that Ali Abdullah Saleh is leaving Yemen, under the immunity deal he has three times before rejected, the United Nations' engagement with Saleh's thirty year rule has come into focus.

  Inner City Press has repeatedly asked the UN Development Program about its director for Arab states, Amat Al Alim Alsoswa, who previously served as a Saleh minister and has since “been the UN's face” in the region, according to UN sources critical of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's performance during the Arab Spring.

  In April, Inner City Press asked UNDP:

On Yemen, please state whether former Saleh minister Ms. Amat Al Alim Alsoswa has recused herself from consideration of Yemen programs. Please also state, on deadline, whether Ms. Amat Al Alim Alsoswa or any family member... would be covered by the immunity deal negotiated between Saleh and the Gulf Cooperation Council.”

Days later, UNDP's spokesman responded that

UN staff are all international civil servants who act in accordance with the United Nations’ standards and norms. Ms. Amat Al Alim Alsoswa assumed her post as Assistant Secretary General and Director of the Regional Bureau of Arab State in 2006 after leaving her official functions with the Government of Yemen. Ms. Alsoswa is not part of any political discussion or agreement taking place in or on Yemen.”

Inner City Press followed up:

On Yemen, I wanted to know if she is involved in UNDP's program for Yemen, if she or her brother are covered by the immunity negotiated by the GCC.”

UNDP's spokesman responded that she had not recused herself:

Regional Bureaux perform an oversight function over country programmes. They review the programme and the evaluation plan, based on the quality criteria, to provide in-house quality assurance of the programme. The Director of the Bureau endorses the quality of the evaluation plan prior to the submission to the Executive Board. Ms. Alsoswa and her brothers are not part of any immunity deal.”

The deal, which some say was developed with the input of the US Embassy in Sanaa, doesn't specifically name all of the Saleh associates who would be covered by it.


Former Saleh minister Alsoswa in Yemen 2010, recusal not shown

 Earlier this year, even as Saleh has started ordering the use of life ammunition against protesters in Sanaa, UNDP's Helen Clark visited the country accompanied by Amat Al Alim Alsoswa. In UNDP's statements, democracy and the right to peaceful protest were absent.

  UNDP promoted the joint visit of Helen Clark and former Saleh minister Amat Al Alim Alsoswa on UNDP's Yemen web site. A visit to the site on June 4 found that it had not been updated for a month, and said virtually nothing about the killing of protesters.

Likewise, the UN's Syria website has been fun of happy talk -- until it disappeared from the Internet on June 3 as part of Assad's crackdown on the 'Net. But why block access to the UN when it is aligned with the dictators? Watch this site.

* * *

At UN, Ban Poised to Announce for 2d Term on June 6, Amid Critiques & IMF Intrigue

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 3 -- After months of no-comments from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about seeking a second term, on Friday things heated up. A Security Council member's spokesman told Inner City Press to “be on the look-out early next week,” then specified that Ban would announce his intention on June 6.

  After Ban's office announced he will hold a press conference at 11:30 on Monday, June 6, another delegate told Inner City Press that an Asian Group breakfast is being organized for that morning, and said it was for Ban to announce.

  A Chinese diplomat told Inner City Press that his country firmly believes that the top position in the UN for the next five years belongs to Asia -- and that the next head of the International Monetary Fund should come from the developing world.

  Some are surprised that Ban would announce while the nomination process to replace Dominique Strauss Kahn at the IMF is still open. If that post goes to an Asian, from China or much less likely a South Korean, that would change Ban's claim to a second term.

  Since the IMF nomination process ends on June 10, and the winner will be named on June 30 or before, “what's the sudden rush?” a delegate asked Inner City Press.


Ban with Zoellick & DSK: Lipsky & musical chairs not shown

   There are critiques of Ban Ki-moon circulating, among them his fast speaking out against any aid flotillas to Gaza, his inaction on his own Panel of Experts' report on war crimes in Sri Lanka and more general failure to speak out on human rights and media freedom (raised by the Committee to Protect Journalists, HRW and others)and a general lack of reform and pizazz.

  Perhaps this explains the rush, before these various issues develop further. Watch this site.

Click for Mar 1, '11 BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN Corruption

 Click here for an Inner City Press YouTube channel video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian deaths in Sri Lanka.

Click here for Inner City Press' March 27 UN debate

Click here for Inner City Press March 12 UN (and AIG bailout) debate

Click here for Inner City Press' Feb 26 UN debate

Click here for Feb. 12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56

Click here for Inner City Press' Jan. 16, 2009 debate about Gaza

Click here for Inner City Press' review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate

Click here for Inner City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger

Click here from Inner City Press' December 12 debate on UN double standards

Click here for Inner City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics

and this October 17 debate, on Security Council and Obama and the UN.

* * *

These reports are usually also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.  Video Analysis here

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